Edited by Jirui ZHENG

 

Judges from the Supreme People's Court recently spoke with the press, providing updates on recent developments in the intellectual property appeals process. Here is an overview of the highlights:

 

---Regarding challenges of “burden of proof” and “long trial period” ----

 

Q: For a long time, there have been difficulties in intellectual property rights protection, such as "difficulties in burden of proof and long trial period." What measures have been taken to address these difficulties?

 

A: To address the difficulty of "burden of proof" faced by the plaintiff, the Intellectual Property Courts have taken the following measures:

1. Fully utilizing the shift of burden of proof system. In a case of commercial secret infringement, the plaintiff obtained the technical solution filed by the defendant with the competent department, while the defendant claimed that the actual technical solution implemented was different, therefore, the court shifted the burden of proof to the defendant.

 

2. Legally supporting applications of evidence preservation and investigation; In the case of one technology secret infringement, the court conducted on-site inspection of the accused infringing products as requested by the plaintiff, as well as 14 relevant experiments, and issued judgments based on this investigation.

 

It is also worth mentioning that the average trial period has been significantly shortened to 182 days by implementing electronic transfer, optimizing procedural connections, and other substantive actions.

 

---Regarding intellectual property cases involving overseas parties---

 

Q: Could you introduce the situation of the court's trial of intellectual property cases involving foreign parties?

 

A: As of the end of 2023, the court has accepted 1678 cases involving international parties and resolved 1198 cases, indicating that an increasing number of multinational enterprises are turning to Chinese courts to address intellectual property disputes. The IP court actively fulfills international obligations under intellectual property treaties and handles all foreign-related cases in accordance with the law, ensuring equal protection for state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, and foreign enterprises, and has received high praise from foreign parties.

 

Looking ahead, the court plans to enhance international collaboration through seminars and judicial discussions, reinforcing China's commitment to protect intellectual property rights on the worldwide scale.

 

 

Source: <The Highlights of the IP court of the Supreme People's Court>